Hilton Head, South Carolina (CNN) – Mitt Romney took the stage at a veterans event Friday in Hilton Head surrounded by a trio of high-profile supporters who defended the presidential candidate, as well as injected enthusiasm and a bit of unpredictability into the evening.

Sen. John McCain, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Ambassador John Bolton spoke with Romney before a packed audience in a small room at a Hilton Head hotel, where voters crammed into an overflow room and listened from a balcony.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - A controversial quote inscribed in the granite of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall will be corrected, an official at the Interior Department confirmed to CNN.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has given the National Park Service 30 days to consult with the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, members of the King family and others to decide on a more accurate version of the quote, the official said.

Duncan, South Carolina (CNN) - "Restore Our Future," the super PAC backing Mitt Romney, sent out the first negative mail piece of the South Carolina primary fight on Friday - and Rick Santorum is the target.

The two-sided postcard, provided to CNN by a GOP voter who received it, casts Santorum as a serial earmarker who helped drive up federal deficits while serving in the Senate.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – West Virginia's legislative leaders have asked the US. Supreme Court to allow the state's new voting district map to stay in place.

An emergency appeal was filed late Friday with Chief Justice John Roberts, seeking to overturn a lower federal court's January 3 decision that the Congressional boundaries were unconstitutional.FULL POST

(CNN) - Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who flirted with a presidential bid last year, defended his decision on Friday to pardon 200 criminals, four of whom were charged with murder.

"We believe people who ask for forgiveness of sin and redeem themselves should get a second chance, and 20 years in the penitentiary is time enough to come to grips with getting your redemption and forgiveness," the outgoing Republican governor said on Fox News.FULL POST

(CNN) –Sen. Robert Menendez is finally giving the go ahead to one of President Obama’s high profile judicial nominations, ending the New Jersey Democrat’s showdown with his own party that some attributed to a personal grudge.

In a statement released Friday, Menendez said he was dropping his opposition to Judge Patty Shwartz’s nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Obama nominated Shwartz to the prestigious court nearly three months ago. Menendez, who as Shwartz’s home-state senator has the power block her nomination, originally expressed concerns with Shwartz’s understanding of certain areas of the law following an initial meeting with her.